Charlie Cootes, Rueben Thomas, Rita Watts and Eunice Joe take part in the ribbon cutting for the grand opening of the new Teechuktl/Quuu’asa office at 3483 Third Avenue on Nov. 16.

Port Alberni —

After moving services to its new location in July, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s Teechuktl department held the official opening of its location on Port Alberni’s Third Avenue Thursday.

The new location at 3483 Third Avenue offers 15 offices for Teechuktl Mental Health, plus a room for Nuu-chah-nulth cultural healing and a boardroom. Quu’asa traditional healing services operate out of the new location, which replaces the previous office on Argyle Street.

With a focus on promoting wellness from a Nuu-chah-nulth perspective, the Teechuktl location serves the Port Alberni community and its surrounding region. Staff on site offer clinical counselling, outreach work for at-risk clients, suicide prevention, wellness practices for an urban setting and resolution health support for survivors of residential schools.

More to come on how Nuu-chah-nulth-aht are pursuing wellness in an urban setting…